SEMINAR STUDIES IN HISTORY
General Editor: Roger Lockyer
Spain in the Seventeenth Century
Graham Darby
First published 1994 by Longman Group Limited
Second impression 1995.
Published 2013 by Routledge
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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-07234-3 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Darby, Graham
Spain in the Seventeenth Century.
(Seminar Studies in History)
I. Title II. Series
946.051
94-1990
CIP
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Darby, Graham.
Spain in the seventeenth century/Graham Darby.
p. cm. (Seminar studies in history.)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-07234-4 : 4.75
1. SpainHistoryHouse of Austria, 15161700. I. Title. II. Series.
DP171.D37 1994
946.051dc20
94-1990
CIP
Set in 10/11 point Baskerville (Linotron)
Contents
Maraved: The basic unit of account.
Real: Silver coin worth 34 maraveds.
Ducado: Ducat. A unit of account equal to 375 maraveds.
Escudo: A gold coin worth 440 maraveds from 1609 but in Castilian accounts generally referred to as the escudo de diez reales worth 340 maraveds.
Peso: American treasure was expressed in pesos: 272 maraveds.
Velln: A fractional coin of silver and copper which eventually became all copper.
The ducat was used only in payments inside Castile, to calculate velln, which had no currency outside Castile. Payments in silver were virtually all made outside Castile and were reckoned in escudos, which were theoretically worth fewer maraveds than the ducat but which in practice came to be about the same value, so that estimates in asientos use both ducats and escudos (, p. XII).
The Portuguese cruzado was worth about 1520 per cent less than the Castilian ducat; the Neapolitan ducat about 30 per cent less. There were 3 to 4 livres tournais (the French money of account) to the ducat, and about 3 ducats to the pound sterling. Rates, of course, varied.
See also ().
I would like to thank the Head Master, Mr Tommy Cookson, and the Governors of King Edward VI School, Southampton, for granting me a leave of absence to write this book. On my sabbatical I enjoyed the hospitality of the University of Southampton and Trinity College, Oxford. The University Library at Southampton has been particularly helpful to me. I would also like to thank Dr Kevin Sharpe and Dr Alastair Duke, and Professor J. H. Elliott, for their helpful criticisms of several chapters, and Dr Norman Ball for his friendly advice on the book in its entirety. Roger Lockyer deserves a special mention for all his skill in cutting the manuscript down to size; and finally I must thank my wife, Rose, for putting the text on disk, and my daughters, Natalie and Charlotte, for not erasing it.
Cover: Equestrian portrait of the Duke of Lerma by Peter Paul Rubens. Prado, Madrid. Photo: Bridgeman Art Library.
To the memory of my father, Henry Joseph Darby (19181986)
Seminar Studies in History
Under the editorship of a distinguished historian, Seminar Studies in History covers major themes in British and European history. The authors are acknowledged experts in their field and the volumes are works of scholarship in their own right as well as providing a survey of current historical interpretations. They are constantly updated, to take account of the latest research.
Each title has a brief introduction or background to the subject, a substantial section of analysis, followed by an assessment, a documents section and a bibliography as a guide to further study. The documents enable the reader to see how historical judgements are reached and also to question and challenge them.
The material is carefully selected to give the advanced student sufficient confidence to handle different aspects of the theme as well as being enjoyable and interesting to read. In short, Seminar Studies offer clearly written, authoritative and stimulating introductions to important topics, bridging the gap between the general textbook and the specialised monograph.
Seminar Studies in History were the creation of Patrick Richardson, a gifted and original teacher who died tragically in an accident in 1979. The continuing vitality of the series is a tribute to his vision.
Roger Lockyer
The General Editor
Roger Lockyer, Emeritus Reader in History at the University of London, is the author of a number of books on Tudor and Stuart history, including Buckingham, a political biography of George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, 15921628, and The Early Stuarts; A Political History of England 16031642. He has also written two widely used general surveys Tudor and Stuart Britain and Habsburg and Bourbon Europe.
Note on the system of references
A bold number in round brackets () in the text refers the reader to the corresponding entry in the Bibliography section at the end of the book. A bold number in square brackets, preceded by doc. [doc. 6], refers the reader to the corresponding item in the section of Documents, which follows the main text. Items followed by an asterisk * the first time they appear in the paragraph are explained in the Glossary.
